Goosen in share of lead

Retief Goosen and Joe Durant coped best with difficult conditions to share the lead after the first round at the Tour Championship today.

The pair each carded a two-under-par 68 in a chilly breeze at East Lake, Atlanta, to head Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk, Adam Scott, Stuart Appleby, Stewart Cink and Tom Pernice by one stroke.

The 2004 champion, Goosen bogeyed the brutal par-three 18th to surrender the outright lead, but he nevertheless had few complaints.

“You knew no one was going to shoot 62. You just felt like you had to hang in there,” Goosen said.

“I’ve been trying to work on a few things in my swing. It’s not easy going out and trusting it but to get a good round in sort of gives you a bit more confidence.”

In the absence of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, who are skipping the event, there was a lack of excitement among the spectators, although that may have been partly due to the cold temperature.